MONEY WALKS
Are young people turning their backs on traditional banks?
There are lots of banks out there, we’re not tied to two banks now
Digital players like Revolut are capturing the teen market, and it’s not all that difficult to see why, writes Wayne O’Connor
When banks set out to attract young customers, often a GAA star working in a local branch will be put on the road to visit nearby schools and encourage children to open an account. Financial expert Eoin McGee said this strategy makes sense: “Get ’em in early, and hold on to them.”
But digital players are now a big draw for teenagers, threatening how traditional banks operate.
Revolut claims more than a third of the country’s children use its app for transactions, muscling in on so-called legacy banks.
“The major banks don’t set up a branch in the college campus because they want to look after students, they do it and give away student accounts with pens and whatever else because they know if they get you then, they probably have you for life,” Mr McGee said.
“I suggest you would find it difficult now to find a huge proportion of teenagers who have ever been in a bank for their own banking. They may have been dragged in by parents, but not for their own banking.
“It will be alien to younger people to go into a physical bank. Why would they? They have everything online.”
Michael Concannon, head of strategy at the Fintech (the use of technology to deliver financial services and products to consumers) and Payments Association Ireland, said this new competition is healthy.
“New technologies and applications have enabled consumers, including the youth sector, to avail of new service providers for products and services such as mortgages, personal loans, overdrafts, and payment services.”
Mr McGee thinks the impact of technology is more than just about competition.
“I think it changes the banking landscape forever. Fintech banks have such a foothold in Ireland and are more popular in Ireland on a per capita basis than they are in lots of other jurisdictions,” he said.
Three major fintech banks have a strong presence here, but the market is dominated by Revolut.
New data from the company shows how it has increasingly targeted young customers. It is not using GAA stars in school canteens — instead, it runs slick ads on social media.
Young customers are able to easily customise the design of their debit cards to their own taste. And parents are attracted by the ability to easily link a child’s account to their own
Revolut claims more than 410,000 children in Ireland have a Revolut <18 account, its money app designed for six- to 17-year-olds. The company said this figure increased by 24pc since August last year.
Globally, just under 2.5 million children use the app, so Ireland accounts for about 16pc of the company’s youngest customers.
Revolut <18 head of product Carlos Spada said the company aims to empower young people to control their finances under parental supervision.
“We want Revolut to be the ultimate financial companion for teens, growing with them and their financial needs over time,” he added.
When adults are included, Revolut has 2.8 million customers in Ireland, so roughly one in seven of its customers here is a child.
“We still are at a stage where many people have a traditional bank account and a fintech bank on the side. I’m one of those people. I don’t think the generation coming behind us will continue with that,” Mr McGee said.
“Ultimately, in 50 years’ time, we won’t be using cash, so kids who are 15 today, by the time they retire at 65 they won’t be using cash and they need to be immersed in this technology because this is the way their financial world is going to go.”
Bunq and N26 are the other major digital players here. Children can open accounts with Bunq if they have approval from a parent or guardian, but N26 said it is only operating in the adult market.
While some in the banking sector are sceptical of Revolut’s data and question how many of its customers have an active account, or how many customers it makes money from, they recognise a need to react.
A bank source said: “If they are going to become a major player and make money here, they need to see people putting their salaries in their Revolut accounts, or using it for direct debits. We don’t think that is happening yet to a significant extent.”
Fintechs are already running ads asking people to trust them with their salaries.
While many adults might be unlikely to consider this change because they use fintechs as a cash substitute, teenagers who bank only with Revolut or Bunq now may continue doing so when they enter the workforce.
The three main high street banks here said they all recognise under-18s as an important part of their customer base, but pointed to other reasons teens may bank with them. Some lean into the parents.
PTSB said long-standing trust with customers and those who are parents “supports the ongoing growth we are seeing in our youth audience”. A spokeswoman for the bank said its research shows half of parents in Ireland have a savings account for their child.
“The main driver is to teach their children good savings habits, followed by protecting their financial future,” she said.
PTSB and AIB pointed to their young-person accounts being compatible with their apps as well as Google Pay and Apple Pay. Both banks said they offer free transactions on student accounts, one of the big initial draws for adults who use Revolut.
Bank of Ireland said it also offers free transactions on young person accounts and pointed to their fraud helpline where teenagers can speak to someone if they have concerns about an account.
Mr McGee said this is something the traditional operators should make more of.
“One thing people find is that when there is a problem with their fintech bank, it is very difficult to speak to an actual person, particularly when there is a major problem or some kind of scam going on,” he said.
“The only thing that could scupper their growth at the moment is their customer service.
“If I was running one of the traditional banks right now, I would be playing to our strengths with the message, ‘You want to speak to someone? You can ring us. We will answer the phone 24/7’.”
Ultimately, he believes the digital shift by young people is positive.
The apps give accurate spending records, so children (and their parents) can see where their money goes.
“From a day-to-day banking perspective, I don’t see this — teenagers on Revolut — as a negative. There are lots of banks out there, we’re not tied to two banks any more,” Mr McGee said.
“It used to be the case that if you knew a bank manager, or your parents knew them, you could go have a chat and they’d sort you out for a mortgage. That doesn’t exist any more. Everything is centralised, you’re not treated any better if you’re an existing customer with the bank or they’re getting you from another bank.
“The only advantage to doing business with your current bank is you won’t have to bring your statements to them — they will already have them for your current accounts.”
Dozens of girls’ soccer teams in Dublin and surrounding counties are missing out on matches or playing heavily one-sided games due to a bitter dispute between administrators that has led to one female official being sued by a male director. Last year, the Metropolitan Girls League (MGL), which grew over the last decade to a position where it had 270 teams and 8,000 players, almost completely collapsed due to a row with its parent body, the North Dublin Schoolboy/girl League (NDSL).
The NDSL directors declined to recognise the appointment of Grace McAuley Ryan, a former Shamrock Rovers goalkeeper, to the position of MGL chairperson. The appointment had been made by Tony Gaines, before his retirement as an NDSL director last year.
McAuley Ryan is now being sued for defamation by Brendan Renwick, a NDSL director, over correspondence she has sent out to clubs and others complaining about how the NDSL was being governed.
Amid the stand-off, hundreds of girls’ teams were migrated from the MGL to the Dublin & District Schoolboy/girl League (DDSL), but many of those teams found themselves in the wrong grades, leading to heavily lopsided games.
Just 27 teams remained with the MGL at the start of this season. One of those, St Columban’s, is a Coolock club that has two girls’ teams on its books. Its under-17 team was disbanded after a series of heavy defeats last season in what remained of the MGL left many players in tears after games.
“The dedicated girls’ league has been annihilated by the NDSL,” Mandy McGuinness, chairperson of the Coolock club, said. “We’re focused on getting these girls off the street and kicking a ball. It’s important to have an outlet for them in the area we are from.
“But getting hammered 25-0 is not good for anyone’s mental health. That under-17 team had to disband. There were no teams at the right level for them to play. Now there are 25 girls you are as likely to see in a park smoking rather than kicking a ball.”
McGuinness said she could not understand how the DDSL had allowed the successful MGL, which has produced internationals such as Abbie Larkin, to be destroyed.
She met NDSL directors last month to raise a series of governance questions and was told her questions were a “defamation” of the directors.
After the meeting she said St Columban’s was removed from the NDSL website and told it was not properly registered. She was unable to transfer the club’s two remaining girls’ teams to the DDSL as she was told clubs joining must have at least three teams.
Last Wednesday, there were emergency talks with the club, the FAI and local Sinn Féin TD
Chris Andrews in Leinster House about the St Columban’s girls’ teams.
The club has since been told by the NDSL that its teams will be accepted for this season in a new combined league with teams from the North Eastern Regional League, although this could mean the Coolock side have to travel to Louth, Meath and Cavan for games.
Among the governance issues that McGuinness said she tried to get answers on were questions over the NDSL’s deal to sign over its ownership of the Oscar Traynor centre — which includes a recently installed all-weather pitch among its facilities in Coolock — to League of Ireland premier division Bohemian FC.
Tony Gaines, the former NDSL secretary and director, said this weekend there was “no logic” to how the NDSL has let the MGL dwindle to its present state.
Gaines also questioned why the NDSL handed over all the Oscar Traynor training centre company to Bohemians. Before he left the NDSL, he said, he prepared a draft deal with the League of Ireland side to take a 50pc stake in the centre’s controlling company which he said was developed with €500,000 in contributions from football clubs. Although the company had significant debts, Gaines said the draft deal would have required a payment of €650,000 to be made by Bohs to buy out the NDSL’s 50pc share.
After Bohs took over the Oscar Traynor company, it paid off an FAI debt of €477,000 and an AIB loan of €318,000. The property is on a longterm lease from Dublin City Council.
The NDSL continues to have offices in the Oscar Traynor centre. Bohemian FC said it had used the facility for seven years before it became aware that a change of ownership was in the offing that would allow it to invest and upgrade the centre.
“Bohemian FC, being in a secure financial position and with a commitment to develop a leading academy facility, spent months exploring the possibility of its directors becoming the sole members of the lease holding company,” it said. “This proposed action was investigated with the full knowledge and co-operation of the other company members.”
It said the NDSL and the Amateur Football League retained previous usage hours at a reduced rate or no cost.
“The usage of the centre has remained as it was, but with the lease-holding company membership changing, large debts repaid and firm future plans,” Bohemian FC said.
Gaines said he believed it was time for a change of leadership at the head of the NDSL, where Brendan Renwick has been a director since July 2010.
Although the FAI introduced eight-year term limit for its own directors, no such limits apply to leagues or bodies affiliated to the FAI. The FAI is in the process of establishing a League Mark scheme that will set out best practices for leagues around the country to improve governance standards.
In his Circuit Court defamation case against McAuley Ryan, Renwick alleges that from August 2023 McAuley Ryan sent out communications to third parties and NDSL members “wrongly calling for an extraordinary general meeting” (EGM) and his resignation.
He said she “misrepresented herself and the necessary requirements for calling any such meeting” and alleges her communications were “wholly inaccurate, misleading, incorrect and defamatory”.
Renwick complains that McAuley Ryan had a private business, Age of Images, based in the Oscar Traynor centre, that provided ID cards for players in the NDSL. He alleged that McAuley Ryan contacted clubs about using the ID cards when the league was transitioning to a new system and this undermined him and the proper running of the league.
McAuley Ryan denies acting improperly over the ID cards and that there was a significant impact on her business after she challenged the NDSL.
The case, filed in May, claims McAuley Ryan acted “maliciously” in defaming Renwick in her communications calling for his removal as an NDSL director. He said her communications had the effect of “sowing confusion and division” in the league. He is said to have suffered “loss, damage, grave upset, severe stress, inconvenience, expense and embarrassment”.
As well as seeking damages and aggravated damages, Renwick is seeking injunctions preventing McAuley Ryan from representing herself as an officer of NDSL and MGL chairperson. He is also seeking to restrain her from contacting clubs to call an EGM.
Renwick is represented by FH O’Reilly Solicitors, the firm that has issued letters on behalf of the NDSL recently.
Contacted last week, Renwick said he could not answer questions about girls’ teams as he does not run that section. He asked for other questions to be put in writing. Emailed questions about NDSL governance, the Oscar Traynor centre and his defamation case were not responded to.
McAuley Ryan said her solicitor was preparing a defence to the defamation case.
She said her main concern was the collapse of the MGL, something she said was “outrageous” and the fault of the NDSL leadership.
Those who represent girls’ football would not fall into line